A SCOTTISH couple have returned home after cycling more than 2400 miles to raise funds for Palestine.
Anne and Graham Bryce, 71 and 70 respectively, set off on the epic bike ride from their home in Glasgow to the Palestinian border on September 4 – and arrived some nine weeks later.
Documenting their journey on the Brycesonbikes Instagram, the pair have so far raised more than £26,000 for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians – plus an extra £5000 in gift aid donations.
The Bryces, both retired NHS workers, told The National that they had chosen to cycle through Jordan, not Israel, and did not enter Palestine itself due to safety concerns.
“It just wouldn't have been tenable to cross the West Bank on a bike, although we've done it years ago,” Graham said.
“It's not a particularly difficult ride in terms of distance or terrain, but these days it's just not safe in terms of the behaviour of settlers and soldiers.
“The settlers are all being heavily armed, and they're just taking potshots. They act first and ask questions later.”
Anne first visited Palestine 45 years ago as a volunteer nurse, and said it “has been a special place, and the people have been special to me, ever since”.
Graham, a child psychiatrist, has also been involved with Palestine in recent years through the Glasgow civic twinning with Bethlehem “working to support and develop psychology training” in the West Bank city.
To mark 45 years since Anne’s first visit to Palestine and continue their ties with the country, the Bryces had been planning to set off on their charity cycle in September 2023, but were held up at home.
Anne explained: “Of course, after October 7 last year, when it all blew up, we were thinking, maybe we shouldn't do it. But then part of me was thinking, maybe this is exactly the time to do it.
“We want to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinian people. There's ethnic cleansing going on at the moment. We need to let people know. We need to raise this issue.
“For me in particular, I've got five – a new grandchild last week – so I've got five young grandchildren, and my heart is broken at the fact that over 17,000 young children have been murdered, killed by Israeli soldiers.
“It is just unbelievably horrific. I can't live with myself without feeling that I need to do something to stop this.”
The pair’s niece Laurie handled social media for them during their long journey to the Palestinian border, with Anne sending regular “know their names” updates – where she reads the names of the killed Palestinian children – for their Brycesonbikes Instagram account.
Asked what had inspired her to do the videos, Anne pointed to a 2014 decision by the Israeli Broadcasting Authority to ban a human rights organisation’s radio advert as it listed the names of children killed in Gaza.
“The Israelis have a lot of control over what goes out and what doesn't,” she said. “So I thought in response to that, I will make sure that we know their names and that we remember them.”
Graham said that the journey had been “absolutely gorgeous, and folk are very friendly – and many of them very enthusiastic about the fact that we were doing it for Palestine”.
But although the journey may have been unforgettable, Anne said it was impossible to stop thinking about the horrors unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank.
“I don’t think it was ever not on my mind,” she said. “I missed a lot of the countryside because my head would be so absorbed with what has been happening.
“We set off on a project, a mission, and it was about raising awareness, raising money and remembering the children in Gaza who had died.”
The Bryces said that they decided to donate to Medical Aid for Palestinians after visiting the West Bank with the charity in 2015.
“They use the money very, very wisely, in the strategic sense, the way that they deploy the resources in Gaza and the West Bank, East Jerusalem, South Lebanon. As far as possible, they're employing local people to do the work.
“So the model is good, and we had a lot of confidence in it. There are lots of charities that do great work, but this is the only one that works solely for Palestinians.”
The fundraiser is still open, and can be found at justgiving.com/page/brycesonbikes.
Graham said: “When the kids were wee and they were doing a sponsored run at school, did you give them the money upfront or wait till they've completed it?
“There's a few people have started donating now that we've completed it. So we're just going to leave the fund open for the time being.”
